Uncertainty surrounds as many as 305 jobs at three hospitals in Harrow and Brent after bosses announced planned cuts this morning.

It had been feared that up to 400 members of staff at Northwick Park and St Mark's hospitals in Harrow, and Central Middlesex Hospital in Park Royal, faced redundancies - but hospital chiefs say the figure should be far fewer.

After a meeting with trade union officials on Wednesday last week North West London Hospitals Trust, which runs the three sites, identified 35 posts to be made redundant.

However, they have also earmarked 80 jobs which they expect to be left through retirement or in vacancies they have agreed not to fill.

There are another 120 titles which the Trust claims will be transferred to different services while it hopes more money will be saved on 70 agency posts through a reduction in hours.

The major re haul has been forced on Trust bosses after it was announced that they would receive a £32million cut to its budget but chief executive, Fiona Wise, is confident the money can be accounted for without large scale redundancies.

She said: "I have always been clear that we would keep any redundancies to a minimum and that patient care would remain our top priority.

"This is a time of uncertainty for our staff and we will be offering them as much support as possible and seeking their ideas on how we can improve the way we work.

"We have not identified all the savings required and will be continuing to look at ways of changing the way we work to become more efficient. This may include making further changes to the workforce but we expect any further redundancies to be minimal."